Shaedes of Gray (Shaede Assassin, #1)

Jan 15, 2012 Catherine rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-vixen-reviews, first-reads-arcs-won-a-copy, assassin-killer-bounty-hunter, contemporary, djinn-genie, fantasy-paranormal-sci-fi, magic-mystical-ability, read-2011, series, sucked, shaede

I’ve discovered that I’m not a big fan of a romantic connection being established prior to the start of a book. I don’t mind a preexisting attraction or a second chance, but I don’t like having an established connection plopped in my lap. I know I’m just supposed to go with it, but it’s hard. It can succeed if done well, but an author has to be careful to still provide supporting data to make me believe in the characters’ feelings instead of expecting me to swallow it just because it’s presented...more I’ve discovered that I’m not a big fan of a romantic connection being established prior to the start of a book. I don’t mind a preexisting attraction or a second chance, but I don’t like having an established connection plopped in my lap. I know I’m just supposed to go with it, but it’s hard. It can succeed if done well, but an author has to be careful to still provide supporting data to make me believe in the characters’ feelings instead of expecting me to swallow it just because it’s presented as a fact.

Such is the case with Darian and Tyler. They’ve known each other for five years and have been dancing around their attraction the whole time. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s very apparent that they are approaching the love end of things. I just didn’t understand why. I felt no connection between them; no tension. Tyler became pretty pushy and demanding toward Darian and her accountability to him—which was attributed to something that I can’t talk about for fear of spoilers—and I couldn’t help but draw back from his behavior. It felt presumptuous, to be honest. If I had more belief in their relationship and understood him better it might have irritated me less, but as it stands I felt repulsed by his gall and was irritated by Darian’s childish back and forth with him. Of course, the author throws in the obligatory love triangle, which seemed out of place and intrusive, not to mention kind of creepy, given her connection to that other guy.

Darian was my main problem with this book. I found the writing mechanical and the story rather boring, but all that paled in comparison to my issues with Darian. I can’t believe how irritating she was! She wasn’t strong or capable, although I’m sure I was supposed to think she was. She actually came off as childish and petulant. She would frequently blow up and never stop to consider the company she was in or the reaction it would bring. That wouldn’t be so bad if you were the baddest chick on the block, but she wasn’t. Her skills were laughable compared to the other people. She had a great reputation for assassinating humans, but she was a joke when stood alongside another supernatural creatures. I don’t have a problem with her being low man on the totem pole, but I do have to question her intelligence when she refused to recognize that fact. Her attitude and her behavior made it seem like she was trying too hard. She felt like a preteen trying desperately to prove how adult she was. What irritated me most about this was the fact that she was never called on her crap. Certain characters even seemed to admire her for her daring. It made them all seem ridiculous.

In addition to not liking her attitude, I also found her pretty dim. She’s been shaede for years, but she never bothered to research her existence? She was told by her maker that they were the last two in existence and let him put her off every time she pushed for more information about her abilities and what she was. But when he disappeared she never tried to find out on her own? She just went through the next couple decades oblivious, not stopping to consider that even if she was the last of her kind, there were other supernatural creatures out there as well? What??? Maybe it’s harsh of me, but that seems really dumb. She’s introduced to more of her kind in the story and blunders through their world, not even trying to learn the lay of the political land. At that point I gave up on her and concluded that it was a miracle that she had stayed alive that long.

I came close to DNF’ing this book quite a few times in the beginning. It was s-l-o-w and was nothing but tell, tell, tell. It’s written in first person, so we spend all of our time in Darian’s head. This wouldn’t be a problem, except for two things. One, Darian is not a very interesting or likeable character. Two, the writing style made it very apparent that Darian was narrating the story to us instead of us just watching her experience it. That won’t be a problem for all, but I find that style of narrative boring to read about. It inserts an unwelcome distance between me and the events of the story. Plus, I could have done with some more dialogue so I could have gotten a break from Darian. Obviously I didn’t DNF the book, though. I was interested enough in the idea of the world to push through and hope for improvement. Although the story could have used better worldbuilding, I ended up enjoying the setup enough that I gave it a D instead of an F.

Favorite Quote:

”You hired me to kill…you?” I asked incredulously, because, well, who does that?

*Review originally posted on Fiction Vixen* (less)

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Feb 25, 2013 Sabrina rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: peeves-love-triangles, peeves-hate-the-main-character

Just for fun, let’s make a list of ten cliché used in this book, shall we?
(There are many more than ten, but I had to limit myself somehow.)

1. The tough female assassin who thinks of herself as unemotional and cold-blooded.
She’s so badass, she just has to say it over and over throughout the whole book.

2. The tough, beautiful female assassin.
Of course she is beautiful, how can it be any different? And how can’t it be monumentally important what she looks like?
She describes herself as utterly irre...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Merve Özcan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: vampire, romance, mythology, immortal, djinn, assassin, tough-female-lead, contemporary

Türkçe halini okuyun http://kitabisevda.blogspot.com/2012/...

I really loved this book .Characters, love scenes etc
Main character was really powerful and self-sufficent. I must accept she was sometimes acted stupid but she survived in a world she is not fittingly prepaired. She educates herself and i can love her just for that.
when i was reading book i didnt get bored, but sometimes it was predictable, i dont think author made this knowingly but it didnt lessened the story which she quickly catc...more Türkçe halini okuyun http://kitabisevda.blogspot.com/2012/...

I really loved this book .Characters, love scenes etc
Main character was really powerful and self-sufficent. I must accept she was sometimes acted stupid but she survived in a world she is not fittingly prepaired. She educates herself and i can love her just for that.
when i was reading book i didnt get bored, but sometimes it was predictable, i dont think author made this knowingly but it didnt lessened the story which she quickly catched what is going on.

I have just one problem. Why everybody wants her? And i didnt like that she has a past withh Ty which we dont know about. I feel for Darian. But she is a bit stupid we must accept. How can she believe she is alone.Of course for a time being she can believe, like 10 years but i dont know, she choose this ignorance i think. She felt safer.
About Xander, I literally hate him. He says, i love you, but he doesn't act accordingly. And about Raif, she was so quick to trust him. Okey he seems like a good Shaede but his royality belongs his king. And He was so willingly to let her take charge of about how things goes.These were the parts i am not confortable with.

She kills Azriel (and why he reminds me Azrael, with his acts and name of course) She takes her revenge and Deliah, that was a real suprize.But liker she said, there is no sense in her actions. Maybe it will maybe in the second book, i read and she and Raif main topic again. by the way i dont like Raif, have no idea why.
Darian is A shaede who turn herself to one by will. And Azriel says he made her then left her. After 100 years alter.She learns there are other Shaedes and they want her to kill her maker. She is only too glad to that.He lied and abandon her. And it is not just shaedes there are so many supernatural thing there. And she is not a normal shaede. She is key to some powerful apocalypse and there is her loved djinn Ty. She loves her but until the end of the book she cant even confess to herself.
Oh real bear hug scenes was funny
And she was again so stupid to realize that bear was real Ty Stupid with a S!!(less)

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Dec 16, 2011 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-pnr-sci-fi-romance

Darian is a Shaede, created not born, one of only three Sheades that have ever been made. She has been alone for nearly a century after her maker and lover Azriel, disappeared. Alone in the world believing that she is now the only Shaede remaining and convinced that Azriel is dead, Darian takes on the job that Azriel left behind. An assassin.

Shaedes are supernatural beings who can pass as shadow during the night but take solid form during the day, with heightened senses, strength and speed, abl...more
Darian is a Shaede, created not born, one of only three Sheades that have ever been made. She has been alone for nearly a century after her maker and lover Azriel, disappeared. Alone in the world believing that she is now the only Shaede remaining and convinced that Azriel is dead, Darian takes on the job that Azriel left behind. An assassin.

Shaedes are supernatural beings who can pass as shadow during the night but take solid form during the day, with heightened senses, strength and speed, able to glide through doors and windows and recognisable by their sweet scent. Set apart from humans because of her other-worldliness, Darian has drifted through life continuing her work and honing her skills as an assassin.

Tyler is a "problem solver" who rids society of lowlifes and abusers. Darian has worked for him for five years as a hired killer. But when Darian shows up to kill her next mark, Xander Peck, there's a surprise in store. Peck is a natural-born Shaede and not just any Shaede but the King of Shaedes.

Written in the first-person from heroine Darian's point-of-view, I think the balance of this novel was weighted towards the fantasy. The romance was satisfying though and readers who enjoy less romance in their novels will enjoy this. There were also a couple of nice twists to the plot that I didn’t see coming. The prose was intelligent with clever touches of humour.

Darian is an intriguing mix of tough and vulnerable, independent and yet yearning for love, acceptance and companionship. Her thoughts and words though snarky and irreverent were never bitchy or over-the-top badass.

There were a couple of potential love interests and I wasn't really sure who Darian would end up with. Both Tyler and Xander were just-enough as male leads, although Darian did seem to overshadow them both and neither were as well-drawn nor as particularly interesting as Darian herself.

This debut was really enjoyable. The only reason it didn’t rate higher was that it was a little romance-lite for me. But certainly if you don't like being overwhelmed by a lot of gushy emotional romance and declarations of love, this will suit you. This story does reach a conclusion, but Darian has unfinished business and I guess that’s where the second book in this series will take-up.

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Mar 31, 2013 Emilija rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads, favorites, first-in-series, insanely-fun, want-to-marry-and-make-babies-with, asdfghjkl, 2012-favourites

Review can be found at Madhouse Reads

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Dec 31, 2012 Carmel (Rabid Reads) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

Shaedes of Gray almost felt like two separate stories that were merged into one to make a full length novel. Normally the cracks would show from attempting such a feat but in this case a neat reverse funnel effect was created. I admire Amanda Bonilla for taking on such a challenge and even more so for succeeding at it so beautifully. The end result is a uniquely crafted story that flows like water. Inhaling the pages of this novel became as important to me as breathing ai...more Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

Shaedes of Gray almost felt like two separate stories that were merged into one to make a full length novel. Normally the cracks would show from attempting such a feat but in this case a neat reverse funnel effect was created. I admire Amanda Bonilla for taking on such a challenge and even more so for succeeding at it so beautifully. The end result is a uniquely crafted story that flows like water. Inhaling the pages of this novel became as important to me as breathing air. My only complaint is that it was over too soon!

The world building in Shaedes of Gray is phenomenal! Darian starts off as being a lone wolf who believes that she's the only immortal on the planet that is, up until her world collides with reality. I was enthralled by the first part of this novel. Imagine being the only one of your kind and knowing absolutely nothing about yourself. What abilities do you posses? Are you immortal? What happened to the other shaedes? These are all questions that Darian asks herself over and over again. Unfortunately for her, she receives no reply. That is up until she's summoned by her king. What!? There's a king? She's not alone!? I experienced a mental light bulb illuminating moment at the same time as Darian and boy, what a trip! I couldn't get over how skillfully Amanda knocked the Shade Assassin world on its ass and me with it. Up until this point I was thoughroughly enjoying the book but now, I'm hooked. I didn't think that the story could possibly get any better but I was wrong!

Part of what made this book pure awesomeness was Darian's winning personality. Resigned to her lot in life she uses her skills to the best of their advantage which turns out to be working as an assassin. She has the tough girl attitude and the "French" vocabulary (a.k.a. swears) to back up her chosen profession. I liked how much of an open book Darian is. I always knew what she was thinking and how she was feeling in any given situation. That combined with discovering the bigger picture at the same time as her character made me connect with Darian on a whole different level. Talk about serendipity!

The side characters were also a real treat. Ty's the perfect man! You're probably thinking that there's no such thing but once you read this book and discover what's special about him you'll surely change your mind. As Amanda points out multiple times throughout the book: "Tyler never disappoints". At first I didn't understand the meaning behind that expression but once I did I loved hearing it over and over again! Raif is also a cool character. He's a male version of Darian and I immediately felt the same connection to him as I did to the assassin. They're not carbon copies of each other though, and, Raif does have his own unique quirks and idiosyncrasies. The shade king is another story. Xander is very complex and I can see him playing an important role in future books but in this instance he was just ok for me. I formed a love/hate opinion of him although, I'm not prepared to write him off yet.

You want NEED this book. Shaedes of Gray is a first rate read from cover-to-cover! Amanda Bonilla breaks-out on the writing scene at full throttle. I loved the cover art, all 336 pages and the back blurb. In short for me, Shades of Gray was pure love. I will (impatiently) await Blood Before Sunrise's release next summer. You can't go wrong in buying this novel for the Urban Fantasy enthusiast on your Christmas shopping list.

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Feb 17, 2012 Cyp rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy Fans/ Fans of the Madeline Black series

Shelves: adult-fiction, urban-fantasy, 4-star, 2012-reads

Originally posted at A Bookalicious Story.

My Summary

Darian is a Shaede made by another - a past lover, in fact, one that abandoned her almost a century ago. She's the last of her kind, or so she was led to believe, and with only stealth in her arsenal, she trains herself to be one of the best assassins in the field. She can become incorporeal after twilight, and move in the shadows as nothing more than a ghost.

Tyler has been a long-standing friend (a friend who makes her body feel all warm and...more

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May 18, 2012 Brandy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favoritos-uf, retos-lectura

Amanda Bonilla es una nueva autora de fantasía urbana que con su primera novela me ha encandilado.
Y eso que la trama es exactamente igual a los cientos de libros del género: protagonista que hasta el momento era anónima y que de repente, por motivos diferentes, es la reina de la fiesta. Todo el mundo quiere conocerla, ligarsela, matarla o lo que toque. La diferencia en esta ocasión es que en vez de ser vampiros, hombres lobo, etc... Darian tiene la facultad de fundirse con las sombras, lo que la...more

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Nov 30, 2011 Pamela / SpazP rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Originally posted at Heroes and Heartbreakers

In the first installment of what promises to be an exciting addition to the Urban Fantasy landscape, Amanda Bonilla has skillfully created a new version of Seattle where the heroine Darian is a shaede assassin.

Bonilla offers a unique take on lesser-seen Urban Fantasy mythological beings such as jinn, oracles, and sylphs. The heroine herself is able to become shadow and leave her corporeal form behind once the sun sets. Seattle could not be more perfec...more

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Dec 21, 2011 Melliane rated it 5 of 5 stars

My english review

Mon avis en français

What can I say about this book? "Waouh" is the only word that comes to my mind now that I’ve finished it. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read since a few months. The Amanda Bonilla’s ideas are awesome; there are no other words to say it. I think it’s always difficult to make a difference with Urban Fantasy’s books because there are a lot today. But the author succeeded in this challenge, and even more. She created an explosive, dynamic mix which leads u...more My english review

Mon avis en français

What can I say about this book? "Waouh" is the only word that comes to my mind now that I’ve finished it. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read since a few months. The Amanda Bonilla’s ideas are awesome; there are no other words to say it. I think it’s always difficult to make a difference with Urban Fantasy’s books because there are a lot today. But the author succeeded in this challenge, and even more. She created an explosive, dynamic mix which leads us in a new universe that we don’t want to leave. Indeed, once started, we instantly get into the story and it’s really difficult to put the book down before finishing it. Well, you can understand know that this book blew my mind away!

Darian is a young woman we really like to discover all along the book. So many things happened in her life that makes her stronger and independent. She asks herself a lot of questions about her, her nature, things that make us really curious too. And we want as much as she does to know the answers. But it’s difficult for Darian to accept the true when it’s about the person she loves. She needs more than some proofs to really understand what’s going on. In the same time, I think it’s always difficult to question what we know or what we may know.

We can too only like Tyler, this young man who will do everything he can to help and protect our heroine. And when I say everything, it’s really everything! It was funny and cute to see them evolve together, Tyler, trying to expose his feelings to her and Darian trying to stay away from him. And what about this meeting with Xander? It was amazing. When Darian realizes what’s going on, and that her life is upside down, we only just want one thing, to get more and even more. We can understand all the characters feelings, and of course we hate really fast like our heroine: Anya. Besides, it’s always interesting to read their confrontations. It’s not possible to be bored with both of them.

The battles are really detailed, so we can only enjoy them. I was a little afraid they were quite fast like in some books or not much described because it’s true that it can be very difficult, but it wasn’t the case. And we get each time in the energy of the moment, following little by little the fights.

To conclude, the story is interesting, Action is present all along the story. I really enjoy the Darian’s evolution, the person she became with all these events. Moreover, we stay surprised until the end; we couldn’t even conceive some acts.

I deeply recommend this book! If you haven’t read it yet, you really need to! It’s a real pleasure.(less)

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Dec 20, 2011 Mariya rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

SHAEDES OF GRAY has such an amazing cover and intriguing synopsis, so I was very surprised that this book just didn't do it for me. I became so frusterated by the characters in SHADES OF GRAY that I just went into one of my angry fangirl moments.

SHADES OF GRAY does however start out incrediably amazing that I was at the point of being sold on the book, but once I got through a few more chapters and a few more after that I wanted to flush this book down the toliet. I thought SHAEDES OF GRAY becam...more SHAEDES OF GRAY has such an amazing cover and intriguing synopsis, so I was very surprised that this book just didn't do it for me. I became so frusterated by the characters in SHADES OF GRAY that I just went into one of my angry fangirl moments.

SHADES OF GRAY does however start out incrediably amazing that I was at the point of being sold on the book, but once I got through a few more chapters and a few more after that I wanted to flush this book down the toliet. I thought SHAEDES OF GRAY became a bit slow at times and I really just became incrediably frusterated with the characters.

Darian is the heroine of the book and she had this cool attitude I just didn't like. She had this bad-ass heroine attitude which I usually love in my heroines, but Darian just annoyed me to no end. Tyler, her so called love interest seriously made me want to burn this book.

I have rules for my love interests. They must be hot and confident and independant and say things that make you swoon, bad boy things, and okay I can go on and on. Basically Tyler was a needy and whiny little puppy dog that followed Darian around everywhere she went. In my opinion that is a poor excuse for an actual love interest.

Tyler acted like everything that involved her was his business, that Darian was his business. Stalker much? It was too creepy and weird to me. And another thing is I don't get what they see in each other. I don't see anything special about either of them. In the beginning of the book he was likable, but as you got more and more into the book he became such an annoyance.

Xander, the King of Shaedes was sexy as hell, but I'm not sure how I feel about him yet. But I know that to a point I like him more than Tyler, because he is totally my type unlike Tyler. He had a mysterious air to him and was quite secretive. I like that in my men.

SHADES OF GRAY was slow at times, but it picked up some of the time as well, but it most definitely falls into the '2011 Disappointents' list. I expected so much more from SHADES OF GRAY. There were so many flaws in the book, but despite the flaws I still liked the direction the book was headed and would like to give the second book a try, hopefully the second time around I won't be so frusterated with the characters.

More of my reviews at Mystifying Paranormal Reviews(less)

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Feb 15, 2012 ♥ Ashleigh ♥ contrary to popular belief im not actually mad! rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to ♥ Ashleigh ♥ by: Joan

Shelves: 2011, assassins-bounty-hunters, heroine, multi-paranormal-species, urban-fantasy, reviewed

so i just wrote this awesome review but then the computer screw'd up and didnt save it o.O highly annoying but not much i can do about it.

well anyways Joan picked out this book for us to read and i have to say she did an awesome job once again! thanks Joan!

this book was like a few others i have read but the author did a great job writing it so i didnt mind.
Dairan - the main character - who's a lot like the main heroines out of the October Days series and the Greywalker series was pretty entertai...more

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Dec 03, 2011 Erika Badass rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: awesome-covers, dec-2011, maybe-reads, paranormal, urban-fantasy, assassins

3.5 stars, but I think on the lower side of three, vs more four. Make sense? In my odd brain it does.

3 stars means I liked it, but it has issues.

This review is going to be difficult for me, because on the one hand, I fell in love with Shaedes of Gray's promise. And you know what they say about falling in love with the potential of a man or woman right? Well, it's true for books too.

Let's start with what I loved:

1) The matrix like feel of the Shaeding aspect, and the 'effects' of how they pop i...more

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May 05, 2013 Anachronist rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: not-for-me, they-suck-section, we-deserve-anihilation, sad-pandas

My impressions or rather...a list of sins with the appropriate quotes to illustrate my problems better :

1.
"I wore my signature black—tight pants, low on my waist; long-sleeved black nylon turtleneck that clung to every curve of my body; black boots (of course); and, to top it off, a long black duster. I admit, the coat was a little over the top, but I love dramatics."

Dear Darian- are you an assassin or a fashionista ? Who cares what you wear to work? A tip – not me. Wardrobe descriptions are so...more

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Jan 17, 2012 Alexzandra rated it 4 of 5 stars

At first I was slightly skeptical to read an Urban Fantasy, being a huge fan of completely made up worlds, but Amanda Bonilla really took to blending her fantasy world into the world we know. I also appreciate, being from Seattle, the author was correct in her map of the city. Though I'm sure you are not worried about that! Moving on...

The writing style of the book really drew me into its pages. I honestly bought the book and couldn't put it down, till very late at night mind you, but I hadn't e...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Caitlen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, firstreads-won

I won this book from the Goodreads First Reads program

This author has quite an imagination! However, the storyline wasn't really enough to get me hooked. Actually, I take that back - the storyline was really creative and very interesting, but I didn't connect to the characters well enough to really care what happened to them. However, the ending more than made up for that, and the author certainly finished strong. I will definitely be reading the second book, and I recommend this book to anyone...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Kindle-aholic rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: uf

Lots of action and a unique mythology make for a very enjoyable read.

Darian is a Shaede, an immortal being who can fade into shadow and has increased strength and healing ability. These powers make her an excellent assassin. Since her maker vanished leaving her to believe that there were no others like her, she has been alone. She is attracted to her current business contact, Tyler, but doesn't want to risk their friendship, and more importantly let down any emotional walls.

Then she gets a job...more

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Nov 16, 2012 Jean rated it 4 of 5 stars

I had a little trouble connecting with the main character, Darian, at first. I think that is partly intentional since she has been a loner for so long. Once I started to warm up to her, I really got into the story. Amanda Bonilla does an excellent job with worldbuilding. There are so many different aspects in this one, but she does a good job of making it all flow together. The ending was very exciting, and I'm looking forward to the next one,

Blood Before Sunrise (Shaede Assassin, #2)

, to see what happens to Darian next.

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May 02, 2013 Aimee (Coffee Table Reviews) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, paranormal, urban-fantasy

What I enjoyed most about this is that this does not blend with the countless other paranormal books out there that feature vampires, werewolves, demons or the like. It was a nice change from finding something only to realize that I have, indeed, read it before, only better by another author. But I have to say I really enjoyed this interesting new concept of paranormal creatures.

There was very little I found that annoyed me. Which is great. I thought the story seemed very well done, and I enjoye...more

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Mar 28, 2013 Aurian Booklover rated it 4 of 5 stars

Darian is an assassin, and a good one thanks to her special abilities. Her targets are only bad guys, mobsters, murderers, child molesters. And she gets paid top dollar for killing them. And of course, her “employers” will someday be her targets as well. If they pay her to kill of the competition, someone else will pay to see them removed.
Darian is a Shaede, she can melt into the shadows, and just disappear, but not during daytime. Her handler is Tyler, whom she thinks is just a human. Tyler is...more Darian is an assassin, and a good one thanks to her special abilities. Her targets are only bad guys, mobsters, murderers, child molesters. And she gets paid top dollar for killing them. And of course, her “employers” will someday be her targets as well. If they pay her to kill of the competition, someone else will pay to see them removed.
Darian is a Shaede, she can melt into the shadows, and just disappear, but not during daytime. Her handler is Tyler, whom she thinks is just a human. Tyler is totally in love with her, but she doesn’t want to have a relationship with him. They are working together. And so far, her history with being in love has not been a great one. When her parents all but sold her to the handsome doctor who wanted to marry her, they had no idea what she was getting into. A closet gay, who uses his wife as a punching bag. Darian hates her life, but there is nothing she can do about it. Everyone thinks she has the ideal marriage, a gorgeous husband who is devoted to her. But that is only the public side. Then one evening, he brings a very handsome man with him, and Darian is totally taken with him. Azriel gets her to talk about her own life and ideas, and her husband is getting more and more angry. And when Azriel has gone, he beats her more severe than ever, and Darian knows that this time he will kill her.

But just before that happens, Azriel is in the room with them, killing Henry and saving Darian. He takes her with him, as he has made her a Shaede. He enjoys killing people, and for the next 25 years or so, he shows her the world. Then one night he just leaves her and never comes back, leaving her to fend for herself, without any money or much skills. Only those of an assassin, and so Darian becomes one. He told her there were no other Shaedes, and she should stay hidden. But Azrial lied to her. Because Darian’s new job is none other than the Shaede King himself. Darian is a pure American though, and doesn’t acknowledge Xander as her King, which is something is people don’t like. But Darian has no choice but to obey Xander’s wishes as he is so much stronger than her, and has the power to do whatever he wishes. She will be trained to be a better assassin, since her next victim will not be a paltry human, but more.

When Tyler shows up to “rescue” her, she thinks he is just unnecessary putting himself in danger. She can handle herself, and she needs him to be safe. But Tyler is not human, he is a Djinn and he has bound himself to her. It is very irritating to Darian (and to me) that no one is willing to explain things to her, that they expect her to just obey orders and understand everything at once. But slowly she gets more knowledge about herself and her heritage. But not only is she found by the Shaedes, she is also found by their mortal enemies, the Lythan. A whole new world opens up to her, and suddenly she is no longer the best, she needs to train and learn.

It took me a while to like this book, but once I did and the story started flowing fast, I was hooked. Especially after I learned more about her past, I liked Darian and understood her reasons for keeping Tyler at arms length. I still think it very strange that she never ever saw anything supernatural, as her world is filled with them, and especially hidden in the shadows she should have seen something. But she has really no clue what else is out there. Of course, Azriel kept her ignorant, refusing to tell her anything. He knows she is special, and he wants to exploit her destiny.
Darian does not back away from a fight, she is a great kick ass heroine, and I totally applaud her for not wanting to fall for and obey Xander, whom I think is a jerk. I liked Tyler, but he could have been honest with her.

The story itself is totally original and I liked it. I am looking forward to learning more about this world when Darian does. And I am very happy to already have the next two books on my shelves.
Amanda Bonilla has created an awesome world, filled with all kinds of supernatural beings, some totally new to me, and some familiar. She has created her own rules though, and I like this very much. It keeps it all fresh and new.

8,5 stars.

Full review on my blog, www.boeklogboek.blogspot.com
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Aug 07, 2012 Monica! rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, city-sparkles, the-sparkles-mean-its-magic, what-is-this-feeling, your-reality-alarms-me, i-wish-i-could-hate-you-to-death, goodreads-made-me-do-it, but-wait-theres-more, now-youve-read-the-book, buckets-of-snark, swash-swash-buckle-buckle

As I was trundling my way through Shaedes of Grey, I kept thinking to myself that while this was not the most engaging novel I’d picked up recently, it was certainly tolerable. Kind of a useless, bitchy, look-at-me-look-at-me narrator (The kind of woman I’d hate to meet in real life, you know? Or worse yet, to have as a co-worker. Shudder.) but you know, the plot was fun, and there were a couple of cute guys, and Seattle, right? And I was okay with everything.

Then disaster struck, in the form of...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Cari rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is my first Bonilla novel to read, and it will definitely not be my last! I am going to share the synopsis from the back cover of the book because I have a habit of including spoilers in my summaries. I'm working on it!

Darian has lived alone for almost a century it the shadows of the night. Made and abandoned by her former love, Darian is the last of her kind - an immortal Shaede who can slip into darkness as easily as breathing. With no one else to rely on, she has taught herself how to s...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Blood Rose Books rated it 3 of 5 stars

In her debut novel Amanda Bonilla introduces the reader to a new world where the light and dark may not be what you expect.

Darian was made, loved and then left by her creator Azriel. Darian needed to learn how to survive on her own and with her unique skills of a shaede becoming an assassin was the perfect fit. As far as Darian has known she is the last of her kind or of any paranormal creature as she has never met another. But then a hit goes wrong, Darian is plunged into a world she knows noth...more In her debut novel Amanda Bonilla introduces the reader to a new world where the light and dark may not be what you expect.

Darian was made, loved and then left by her creator Azriel. Darian needed to learn how to survive on her own and with her unique skills of a shaede becoming an assassin was the perfect fit. As far as Darian has known she is the last of her kind or of any paranormal creature as she has never met another. But then a hit goes wrong, Darian is plunged into a world she knows nothing about. All of a sudden there are other individuals on the same playing field as her and her next target may be her final job. Darian is never one to turn down a job or leave one unfinished but this next one could end up being her last as there are others who would like to see Darian disappear permanently.

When I read the first few pages of this book, I thought that I had accidentally picked up a paranormal romance by mistake. The book starts off with some sexual tension and past romantic encounters that I was not expecting occur at the very beginning and I thought about putting the book down. However, I did not and I am glad that I continued to read as I did enjoyed the book in the end. The novel does have some dark and gritty edge to it, but not enough for me to forget the romance aspect that was throughout the book.

I loved the world and new paranormal "creatures" that Bonilla created. I really really liked that she introduced something new into the paranormal genre. I have never read about Shaedes or Lyhtan before and it is just refreshing to read something new. Shaedes have the ability to slip into darkness of night or the shadows of the day making them invisible, basically going from solid into a shadow. Very interesting talent and the Lyhtan who are the enemies of the Shaedes have the opposite ability. They are able to disappear in the light of day, which is good because they are not beautiful like the Shaedes, Lyhtans are ugly beast-insect type creates. Shaedes also have other talents but they were not a elaborated on as the slipping into/becoming a shadow and I am interested to learn more about what Shaedes can do.

I liked Darian as an interesting character, but within her character is what I disliked most about this book. I found that Darian was too Man-Crazy for me. I do not know how many times one has to read about how good Tyler looks or how Xaniers' voice was very seductive. In my opinion I think that the story and plot would have been better without the constant man neediness but yet having Darian state that she did not want a man in her life. It is this constant battle that Darian has which distracts from the dangers that are occurring around her and makes her more vulnerable to her enemies. Other than her constant thoughts about some men, I liked the rest of Darian's character. She is strong, adaptive and not as annoying as I have found other female characters within the paranormal genre. Bonilla did enough in giving Darian the ability to speak her mind and protect those around her but not in a bitchy or know-it-all way. I also enjoyed that Darian makes fun of herself and her winning personality, made me laugh a few times.

This is a good debut novel. I think those who like a paranormal novel that has a mixture of romance and action will really enjoy this book and find it as a great debut. Although Bonilla brings something new and different to the paranormal genre, I think readers who do not like romance in their paranormal books, may want to skip this one as the romance is present in almost every scene and plot line within the book. I will read the next book in the series because I am interested in knowing more about the Shaede world as I found this the most interesting aspect within the novel and just hope the romance aspect is not as overpowering in the next book.

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Dec 12, 2011 Lee Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Mercy Thompson series fans; Kat Richardson fans

I basically picked this up because I liked the title and the cover and wanted another good series to start. Signet Eclipse labels it as an "urban fantasy romance" although I would categorize it more as paranormal urban fantasy than as a romance. The romance will be ongoing (one assumes) in coming books just as Patricia Briggs has developed Mercy and Adam's story throughout the Mercy Thompson series. Any one who enjoys that series will rejoice to see something along vaguely similar lines. There a...more

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Dec 11, 2011 Paradoxical rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reading-list, books-otherwise

A decent beginning to a new series, though I'm rather wary as to where these books may go. Mainly because the protagonist, Darian, is a not so easily liked character who is prickly and rather likes to wallow in her misery. In fact, the beginning of the book was a bit of a struggle because she is rather hard to deal with. Darian is stubborn, arrogant, narcissistic, and basically tells herself that she can't feel any positive emotions because she's been burned in the past. Granted, she's been burn...more A decent beginning to a new series, though I'm rather wary as to where these books may go. Mainly because the protagonist, Darian, is a not so easily liked character who is prickly and rather likes to wallow in her misery. In fact, the beginning of the book was a bit of a struggle because she is rather hard to deal with. Darian is stubborn, arrogant, narcissistic, and basically tells herself that she can't feel any positive emotions because she's been burned in the past. Granted, she's been burned rather badly, but seriously? Wallowing in what happened a hundred years ago is just letting the other people win. But no, I try to swallow up my annoyance and commiserate with her crappy life because I was rather determined to at least tolerate her, if not like her.

Darian is a Shaede, a creature that can dissolve into the darkness at night at a whim, and she uses this to her advantage in her job as an assassin. Her handler, Tyler, is pretty much in love with her and you know this right from the beginning of the book, where they both want to jump each other, but Darian stops them each time because of her bad experiences in the (very distant) past. This is somewhat understandable, pain has no expiration date, and so on, but it still rather rankles how she pretends to be so bad ass when, in the end, she's fragile. Emotionally, anyway.

She thinks she's the only one of her species left, until Xander comes knocking on her door and opens her world to new, dizzying possibilities. And strange fairytale-ish creatures that lurk the world. And this is where my frustration continued to mount, because throughout most of the book, no one will tell Darian anything. At all. Some of it is need to know, other bits of it is someone ostensibly trying to protect her, but it all makes you want to reach into these pages and throttle some of these people.

The arrogance of some of the characters just grates, ignoring Darian's own arrogance that gets beaten rather badly in several places in the book. On the plus side, I rather liked Tyler, but I always tend to like forever loyal characters, even if you don't know why they're so loyal in the first place. The plot wasn't too bad. I wouldn't say it was unique, and it became rather predictable in the end (or at least to me. I pretty much called out all of the little 'twists').

Darian does grow in the end. She became a bit less irritating to me, even if she seems on the verge of acquiring Mary Sue properties. Eh, whatever, I'm a sucker for things like that too. Because of this, I am somewhat looking forward to reading the next book. Where hopefully she begins to live a bit more rather than existing. 3 stars.(less)

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Dec 08, 2011 Madame X rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: awful-do-not-read, paranormal-urban-fantasy, love-triangle, assassin-protag, mary-sue, romance-spans-multiple-books

Hold onto your hats and glasses, folks. This one’s going to get ugly.

The first-person narrator, Darian, is an assassin. An assassin who only kills evil people. Not that she does the legwork to check whether or not her victims are evil –she explains in one memorable scene, “Thinking wasn’t part of my job,” – so she just trusts her boss, Tyler, to be extra careful about picking evil victims.

She’s also fabulously wealthy because she only takes high dollar jobs, which she mostly executes on the se...more

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Dec 06, 2011 Kristin (MyBookishWays Reviews) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2011/12/...

Shaedes of Gray was such a pleasant surprise! Everything about this book looked great, but you never know what to expect when trying out a new author. Turns out I had nothing to fear. Darian is a Shaede, able to shift into shadow and has spent her life working as an assassin, until her maker, Azriel, leaves her with no hint at whether he is dead or alive. She has continued her work as an assassin (it’s all she knows), and...more You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2011/12/...

Shaedes of Gray was such a pleasant surprise! Everything about this book looked great, but you never know what to expect when trying out a new author. Turns out I had nothing to fear. Darian is a Shaede, able to shift into shadow and has spent her life working as an assassin, until her maker, Azriel, leaves her with no hint at whether he is dead or alive. She has continued her work as an assassin (it’s all she knows), and when she is hired by the King of the Shaede Nation (who she’s first hired to assassinate), Alexander, to take out an unknown victim, the you-know-what really hits the fan. Darian didn’t even know there was a King of Shaedes, much less anyone else like her, so the forthcoming events prove to be extremely eye opening for our heroine.

Speaking of our heroine, Darian isn’t your typical kick-ass, leather clad¸ urban fantasy star. Yes, she does kick-ass, but only up to a point. Her only training is as an assassin, and what does an assassin do? Preferably, they sneak up on their mark and kill them quietly, without ever engaging them in battle. Until about halfway through the book, Darian really isn’t up to any serious fighting, but that’s ok, because training from Raif (a fellow Shaede) takes care of that neatly. She begins to learn that not only is she not the only Shaede in existence, but there are all kinds of “others” running around, and her employer, Tyler, who she’s known for 5 years and wants her as more than a friend, may also be more than he seems. The sparks are undeniable between Darian and Tyler, but she’s very reluctant to draw anyone close that can be hurt because of her. It doesn’t help that Alexander is sniffing around too. Shaedes of Gray is told from Darian’s point of view, and I had great fun following her as she discovers her origins and as a whole new world opens in front of her. There’s also a diabolical evil at work that thinks Darian might be even more than she thinks she is, and is willing to do anything for that power. There’s lots of twists and turns in this one and while there is much emotional push and pull between Darian and Tyler, it’s not too heavy on the romance. For me, it was just right. Darian’s story is fascinating and I like her matter-of-fact attitude, although she does eventually soften just a smidge. But just. My only complaint (and it’s not really a complaint), is that I would have loved to explore Darian’s past just a bit more (she’s over 100 years old, after all), but a little birdy told me there’s a novella coming up that will do just that, so I’m looking forward to it. Shaedes of Gray is chock full of supernatural goodness and I love the unique world the author has created! Urban fantasy fans will love this one, and I’ll be anxiously awaiting the next book in the series!(less)

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Nov 30, 2011 Bookaholics rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shaedes of Gray by Amanda Bonilla
Urban Fantasy–Dec. 6th, 2011
4 stars

In this startling new urban fantasy, an entirely new type pf heroine finds herself caught in a deadly war.

Darian is a Shaede who was created by another powerful Shaede. Alone and untrained, once her creator loved then abandoned her. She believes her creator is dead and that she is alone. She drifts, working as an assassin for a mysterious man named Tyler whom she finds attractive but knows that she can have no relationship with....more

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Jun 24, 2012 Butterfly rated it 2 of 5 stars

If there’s one character type I love seeing, it’s assassins. Especially female assassins. I could probably stand to see less redheaded assassins though. Seriously, what is it with fantasy and redheaded assassins and/or redheaded women? Still, the promise of a female assassin was enough to lure me into picking up this book.

Darian was made into a Shaede.(Shaedes are supernatural beings that can turn into shadow at night. Very effective ability for an assassin. People are usually born Shaedes but...more If there’s one character type I love seeing, it’s assassins. Especially female assassins. I could probably stand to see less redheaded assassins though. Seriously, what is it with fantasy and redheaded assassins and/or redheaded women? Still, the promise of a female assassin was enough to lure me into picking up this book.

Darian was made into a Shaede.(Shaedes are supernatural beings that can turn into shadow at night. Very effective ability for an assassin. People are usually born Shaedes but a select few — the powerful ones — can turn others. The process to become one isn’t very clear — no exchange of blood likes vampires, no bites like werewolves — so I’m guessing it was something mystical)
The man who turned her into one vanished many years prior and is assumed dead, so she assumed she was the only one of her kind. After all, that’s what her maker told her so why should she have any reason to doubt him?

Darian’s backstory is that she was an abused wife. Yes, I’m sure everyone is surprised that the tough as nails heroine had a tragic backstory in which she was beaten by her husband. At least she wasn’t raped. On the other hand, the reason the husband beat her was because he was closeted gay and resented it. Talk about cliches and stereotypes! A woman can’t become strong unless she was abused? The gay man is evil? Really?

But that’s not even the point I was trying to make. You see, when the abusive husband gets what’s coming to him, Darian watches the scene unfold with no reaction at all. I would have taken anything. Hysteria. Cheerfully jumping in to help. Screaming and running away when she realizes that the man they invited into their house is in fact a murderer! Her dropping to the floor and saying, “Okay, kill me next.” Anything! Instead, I got nothing. She just stood by and watched.

I also found her to be willfully ignorant. It’s not just her actually believing they were the only ones of their kind. It’s the fact that she didn’t stop to think that there were other supernatural things walking around. And to tell the truth, I can’t help but think badly of a supernatural character who has no idea what a Jinn is. When she was human, sure. I can buy that lack of knowledge. But Darian’s been alive for a long time. She lives in modern-day Seattle. She doesn’t know that jinn=genie? Let’s not even get started on the fact that while Darian insists on only killing evil people, she doesn’t actually confirm that the people she’s killing are evil! She trusts her handler, Tyler, to vet everything.

There’s a romantic subplot but it feel really flat for me. I had no idea why Tyler was so in love with Darian. Was it a genuine emotional connection? Some sort of supernatural soulbonding? Both? Who knows? And I personally found the insistence that Xander was a rival for Darian’s affections to be laughable. I found the scenes where Darian interacted with Xander to be lacking in romantic or sexual chemistry at all. Trying to see Darian as being torn between Tyler and Xander was impossible despite the book telling me that Darian was attracted to Xander. I didn’t see that at all and every time the book told me that, I made a face.

Which brings us to the final point. This book is a lot of telling. It’s also a lot of withholding information for the sake of withholding information. I really dislike this. I knew who it was Darian had to kill the minute they mentioned it. It was so obvious there might as well have been neon orange flags around it. The fact that it took so long for them to reveal the identity in the book was annoying.

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May 30, 2012 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: tbr-reduction-challenge

Shaedes of Gray was a book that captured my attention when it was first released. I had picked it up right away but ended up putting off reading it after reading some mixed reviews. I have to admit that it took me a while to warm up to the heroine, but since she did such a great job at pushing everyone away and isolating herself that was understandable. When Darian finally started opening herself up to others, then I finally started warming up to her. Darian's connection to Tyler is what finally...more

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Shaedes of Gray (Shaede Assassin #1)

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